Confirmed: Layoffs at Palm Inc Today

updated PalmInfocenter has heard from reliable source that Palm is announcing layoffs today. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Palm has already begun to notify employees and a possible announcement may come sometime later this week.

Palm currently employs around 1,247 people. While we don't have an official confirmation at this time, a few ex-emplyees have come forward with claims that the layoffs are worldwide and could number in the hundreds. The company had their last round of layoffs back in June, with reports indicating around 100 people were let go.

This latest round of job cuts comes after Palm issued a loss warning last week due to a projected revenue shortfall. Palm reports its full results for the current financial quarter on Dec 18th. A conference call with investors will follow.

Update:
An article on CNET cites an unnamed Palm representative who confirms our report. One tipster who initially alerted us to the layoffs claims as many as 500 employees worldwide could be let go. (We've been unable to verify the exact number of people affected, however we do have confirmation that our initial report of "hundreds" is indeed accurate.)

Update 2:
Palm has issued the following statement to PalmInfocenter:

Palm is working to sharpen its focus and better align resources behind core initiatives that will make the greatest impact to our business. To this end, and to ensure that our expenses are in line with projected revenues, we have made some reassignments and reductions in staff. This will better enable us to compete most effectively and ensure our long-term success.

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Not quite factual

SeldomVisitor @ 12/12/2007 5:28:22 PM # Q
> ...The company had their last round of layoffs
> back in June, with reports indicating around 100
> people were let go...

No, this is the last time we were TOLD about layoffs.

RE: Not quite factual
IHateEdandJeff @ 12/13/2007 11:09:14 AM # Q
Not true...they shut down their Andover, MA. office (or "Andover, MO. as Ed called it in his memo to the Andover employees) and layoffs there started in June with the office closing in October.
RE: Not quite factual
SeldomVisitor @ 12/13/2007 11:23:11 AM # Q
And in their last conference call they said they had 1100 employees at the end of the quarter they were reporting. And the "WiFi team laid off" rumors were AFTER that quarter closed.

Someone at the CC coming up in a week (18th) will probably ask the "Headcount?" question - let's see if PALM answers it.

And let's see if the question is asked RIGHT this time, too, e.g.:

== "We know that a number of people have and will be laid off
== from PALM. What is the current headcount and how much do you
== expect that headcount to decline further through the end of
== the year?"

and, when Colligan obfuscates the answer to the second part by saying something like:

== "Well, we can't predict the future"

follows up with the question:

== "Then all layoffs you expected have already taken place?"

and when Colligan says:

== "No, not yet"

follows up with:

== "Okay, then how many layoffs that were expected have yet to take place!?"

Giggle.



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When you outsource EVERYTHING...

SeldomVisitor @ 12/12/2007 5:30:37 PM # Q
...as with the 500v, who needs employees?


Reply to this comment

Sounds good to me, time to trim the fat!

jeffhoward001 @ 12/12/2007 5:40:08 PM # Q
People get all nervous when a company lays people off... I'd guess that there's a number of lazy-asses at Palm from the "fat" years, and they could stand to tighten things up for the "leans" years ahead. The real talent in a company has a way of bubbling to the top after a well-executed lay off.

Tungsten T --> Palm TX --> Foleo-mini??(like an LD-II with a small attached keyboard??)
RE: Sounds good to me, time to trim the fat!
Surur @ 12/12/2007 6:09:54 PM # Q
Are they firing the WIFI team for the second time?

Seriously though, one hopes the stock-market driven cutbacks does not make Palm even less competitive, and lead to even further "certification delays". Its pretty ominous that, in December, besides the 800w and GSM Centro, we know little else of Palm's 2008 line-up. Will there even be a 750w replacement? Which other phone company leaves a phone on the market for 2 whole years these days. Yet thats exactly what Palm did with the 700 w/wx, antenna and all.

Palm must be in shambles internally and morale pretty low.

RE: Sounds good to me, time to trim the fat!
mikecane @ 12/12/2007 8:34:44 PM # Q
>>>Are they firing the WIFI team for the second time?

Goddammit. They came back?!!?

RE: Sounds good to me, time to trim the fat!
Gekko @ 12/12/2007 8:38:40 PM # Q

we're talking about lives and jobs. it's Christmas time, people have families to feed. have some compassion.



RE: Sounds good to me, time to trim the fat!
LiveFaith @ 12/13/2007 12:26:32 AM # Q
Niiiice Ego and Alter Ego.

Pat Horne
RE: Sounds good to me, time to trim the fat!
mikecane @ 12/13/2007 9:05:38 AM # Q
>>>we're talking about lives and jobs. it's Christmas time, people have families to feed. have some compassion.

Obviously someone has hacked Scrooge Gekko's account.

RE: Sounds good to me, time to trim the fat!
mikecane @ 12/13/2007 9:11:07 AM # Q
What the *real* Gekko would have quoted:

``Are there no prisons?'' asked Scrooge.

``Plenty of prisons,'' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

``And the Union workhouses?'' demanded Scrooge. ``Are they still in operation?''

``They are. Still,'' returned the gentleman, `` I wish I could say they were not.''

``The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?'' said Scrooge.

``Both very busy, sir.''

``Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,'' said Scrooge. ``I'm very glad to hear it.''

And:

``I wish to be left alone,'' said Scrooge. ``Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.''

``Many can't go there; and many would rather die.''

``If they would rather die,'' said Scrooge, ``they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides -- excuse me -- I don't know that.''

``But you might know it,'' observed the gentleman.

``It's not my business,'' Scrooge returned. ``It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!''

RE: Sounds good to me, time to trim the fat!
mikecane @ 12/14/2007 3:26:48 PM # Q
Gekko's surrograte papa speaks:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7142073.stm

I wonder who ghostwrote it? (If everyone says *he* wrote it, then it's an ever bigger embarrassment than it is...)

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Ed and Andy

wildmantrader @ 12/12/2007 5:40:15 PM # Q
Hopefully they are BOTH on the list.
Reply to this comment

The Commodore collapse comparison becomes even more true.

VampireLestat @ 12/12/2007 6:56:13 PM # Q
Didnt take them long to lay off the first quarter they are not profitable huh?

Notice that the main cancerous tumor in the company, Ed PDA-Killer Colligan, is still firmly in placed.

RE: The Commodore collapse comparison becomes even more true.
wildmantrader @ 12/12/2007 7:28:41 PM # Q
They need to shoot the head off the snake. (Ed)
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Hey, Elevation Partners!

mikecane @ 12/12/2007 8:37:51 PM # Q
How the hell can you allow Ed Colligan to stay? Verizon won't certify that Treo because it's CRAP. CRAP happened under the reign of ED COLLIGAN. The Foleo went through YEARS of wasted development under ED COLLIGAN.

If you guys think the Centro should redeem Colligan, I hope to hell you not only lose every cent you dumped into Palm, but have your asses personally bankrupted by shareholder class action lawsuits and government investigations til you rot!

The FIRST announcement of layoffs should BEGIN with ED COLLIGAN.

RE: Hey, Elevation Partners!
VampireLestat @ 12/12/2007 8:57:07 PM # Q
exactly

RE: Hey, Elevation Partners!
thezenofpalm @ 12/13/2007 6:54:36 AM # Q
Ed Colligan is the new David Nagel.
RE: Hey, Elevation Partners!
mikecane @ 12/13/2007 9:12:33 AM # Q
David nagel had an engineering/scientific education.

Ed is marketing. Which means he's just a moron who lucked into a position.

RE: Hey, Elevation Partners!
IHateEdandJeff @ 12/13/2007 11:11:39 AM # Q
"Ed Colligan is the new David Nagel."

That's doing a disservice to Nagel!!! :)

You know the CEO sucks when the form factor decisions for Palm devices were being made by someone in the ACCOUNTING department!!!!

RE: Hey, Elevation Partners!
abosco @ 12/13/2007 12:55:36 PM # Q
Ed Colligan is the new Carl Yankowski.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + S710a
Reply to this comment

Officially Confirmed by Palm

LupinTheThird @ 12/13/2007 2:50:11 AM # Q
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=22694

-----

"Palm lays off employees, more restructuring

A Palm representative confirmed rumors that the troubled maker of the Treo smartphone is laying off people again. Here's the statement from the Sunnyvale company.

" Palm is working to sharpen its focus and better align resources behind core initiatives that will make the greatest impact to our business. To this end, and to ensure that our expenses are in line with projected revenues, we have made some reassignments and reductions in staff. This will better enable us to compete most effectively and ensure our long-term success.
"

There is no sense of how many people are being moved around and laid off. Palminfocenter.com reported this evening that Palm employees told them the layoffs are worldwide and could number in the hundreds. That would be significant for a company with about 1,250 employees. The last layoffs took place this summer.

It's clear that even with the injection of investment from Elevation Partners and the launch of the Palm Centro this fall, Palm is still in trying to right its ship. The company earlier this week said revenue would come in $30 million below earlier forecasts due to delays of a new product.

-----

RE: Officially Confirmed by Palm
SeldomVisitor @ 12/13/2007 6:11:43 AM # Q
== "...Palm is working to sharpen its focus and better align
== resources behind core initiatives that will make the greatest
== impact to our business..."

Is PalmOS a core initiative that will make the greatest impact to their business?

RE: Officially Confirmed by Palm
Surur @ 12/13/2007 6:57:16 AM # Q
"To this end, and to ensure that our expenses are in line with projected revenues, we have made some reassignments and reductions in staff."

This is the bad part. Its basically saying "It seems we will be making less money from here on out, and we therefore had to reduce out expenses". This does NOT imply the loss this quarter was a one-off due to a missed product launch, but rather an ongoing issue which will affect them for possibly years to come.

RE: Officially Confirmed by Palm
SeldomVisitor @ 12/13/2007 7:06:53 AM # Q
> ...Is PalmOS a core initiative that will make the greatest impact
> to their business?

To take that thought further...

Is Linux internals a core initiative that will make the greatest impact to their business?

Or have they adopted Android?


RE: Officially Confirmed by Palm
mikecane @ 12/13/2007 9:07:24 AM # Q
>>>To this end, and to ensure that our expenses are in line with projected revenues, we have made some reassignments and reductions in staff.

We can't EARN a profit so we must hang onto the money we have by getting rid of these goddam people in the halls and cubicles who are subtracting from the FAT UNEARNED BONUSES we intend to pay ourselves.

ED COLLIGAN: RESIGN! Have some balls!

RE: Officially Confirmed by Palm
mikecane @ 12/13/2007 9:08:14 AM # Q
>>>Or have they adopted Android?

If they did, someone call the authorities. That would be a clear case of child abuse!

RE: Officially Confirmed by Palm
hkklife @ 12/13/2007 12:44:37 PM # Q
Past history of Palm + current evidence basically points to a 2008 strategy of attempting to coast through the year by riding their final few Garnet devices (CDMA Centro, GSM Centro, 755p) and a handful of rebadged GSM "me-too" devices plus the flagship 800w (supposedly developed in-house by Palm).

I also wouldn't be surprised to see a 2nd generation Treo 500 (550w?) release later on in the year with the addition of a US-friednly quad band radio and a mute/ring switch. It could be marketed as Palm's Q-competitor (basically, a CDMA WM equivalent of the Centro).

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

Reply to this comment

Paging Ben Combee

mikecane @ 12/13/2007 11:59:40 AM # Q
Let's see how fats Ben Combee gets back to blogging.

Hey, Combee! Blog it, baby!

RE: Paging Ben Combee
mikecane @ 12/13/2007 12:00:19 PM # Q
Oops. FAST, not fats.


Grrr... my checksums aren't working...

RE: Paging Ben Combee
SeldomVisitor @ 12/13/2007 12:09:22 PM # Q
I recently started wearing glasses for reading (well post-50yo, so at least I held out that long).

However, ever since wearing them regularly for use with computers, etc, I've found myself very consistently making dyslexic-type typos - fats/fast, indeed.


RE: Paging Ben Combee
bcombee @ 12/13/2007 12:40:07 PM # Q
Sorry, still at Palm, still working hard on the next gen stuff. And I do blog, just not about secret stuff :)

RE: Paging Ben Combee
mikecane @ 12/13/2007 12:51:53 PM # Q
Two-in-one reply:

>>>However, ever since wearing them regularly for use with computers, etc, I've found myself very consistently making dyslexic-type typos - fats/fast, indeed.

I need reading glasses for books and paper. Not for the screen. Letters drop or get garbled in transmission from brain to fingers. They'll name this syndrome after me. After all, am I not its greatest practitioner?

>>>Sorry, still at Palm, still working hard on the next gen stuff. And I do blog, just not about secret stuff :)

Well, Ben, glad to see you've still got a job. Hey, with so many empty cubicles over there now, is the carpeting thick enough to stifle echoes?

RE: Paging Ben Combee
SeldomVisitor @ 12/13/2007 1:07:22 PM # Q
> ...I need reading glasses for books and paper. Not for the screen...

My bifocal glasses are set to have the top part focus at stiff-arm's length and the bottom part at bent-arm's length. I don't wear them (nor need any) for anything further away than a few feet.

RE: Paging Ben Combee
mikecane @ 12/13/2007 1:10:58 PM # Q
Bifocals?! You paid real money for glasses?! Mine are $1 plastic. (My god, made in China! Maybe I am getting lead poisoning in da hedd!!!)

RE: Paging Ben Combee
SeldomVisitor @ 12/13/2007 1:19:28 PM # Q
> ...You paid real money for glasses?!...

No, Spousie's insurance did, I think.

I think I paid for the special coating, though, which turned out to be a mistake since it makes them hard to clean.


RE: Paging Ben Combee
SeldomVisitor @ 12/13/2007 1:21:04 PM # Q
> ...Maybe I am getting lead poisoning in da hedd!!!...

Nah, ya don't get that from glasses anymore.

Now you get that from hanging Christmas lights.

-- http://cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/12/10/christmas.lights/index.html?iref=newssearch

RE: Paging Ben Combee
mikecane @ 12/13/2007 1:22:10 PM # Q
>>>No, Spousie's insurance did, I think.

Oh, so YOU are the reason insurance is so expensive! That's it, just think of yourself.

You could've spent a buck!

So to review here at PIC:

We have one guy with fat bratwurst fingers

We have another guy whose eyes have gold irises...

(ROTFLMAO!)

RE: Paging Ben Combee
IHateEdandJeff @ 12/13/2007 5:55:44 PM # Q
Hey Ben,

Ed must LOVE you for having that ASUS Foolio killer!! Did they ax Marc Blank? I bet that Eddy was seeing his true colors with e-mail slogging along and not meeting deadlines!

RE: Paging Ben Combee
SeldomVisitor @ 12/13/2007 6:00:15 PM # Q
More importantly and to the point, did they ax the entire PalmOS team?

And, if not, why not?

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